1. Progress Made in Academy Co-creation and the Expanding Dialogue

Ever since the open session of the Plenary Council in AY 2022, opportunities for dialogue have been steadily expanding on multiple levels, including the Plenary Council Representatives’ meeting as well as five-party discussion meetings within each college, consultations at the departmental and campus levels involving the Student Union and student associations, discussions focused on specific topics with various University offices, and dialogue between the Graduate Student Council and the University.

Within these frameworks, the Student Union and student associations have gathered feedback from students, and brought up issues related to education, research, student life, student-led extracurricular activities, the campus environment, and other matters during consultations and discussions with the University. In addition, the Graduate Student Council has identified issues relating to the research and learning environment, financial support, career development, and other matters for graduate students in order to make further improvements through dialogue with the University.

These efforts have provided opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in developing the University, and have formed a foundation for the University to pursue improvements and pilot new initiatives related to the learning environment, student life, and the research environment while taking student feedback and their actual circumstances into account.

A similarly diverse and multilayered process of dialogue and collaboration also took place while revising the Ritsumeikan Charter, which sets out the philosophy and future direction of the Academy and is closely connected to students’ daily learning and campus life. Beginning from the earliest stages of the review process, discussions were repeatedly held with the Student Union and the Graduate Student Council, including meetings on the drafting of the proposed revisions and explanations of the underlying policy. Even after the proposed revisions had been submitted, discussions were held with the Student Union and Graduate Student Council, along with additional explanations (both in person and via video streaming). Thereafter, the review process continued in a collaborative manner, drawing on the results of multiple rounds of collecting feedback from across the University. In addition to revising the content of the Ritsumeikan Charter, this process also served as an opportunity to reexamine its significance together with undergraduate and graduate students.

At the same time, however, it would not be appropriate to claim that all undergraduate and graduate students are adequately aware of the achievements and challenges arising from these initiatives. There is a need to work together with undergraduate and graduate students to identify what information is not reaching them and determine how to communicate issues in a way that makes them feel more personally relevant.

It is also true that perceptions of and responses to these changes vary across colleges, graduate schools, and campuses. To make Academy co-creation efforts more impactful, it is important not only to provide opportunities for dialogue but also to make it easier to understand what was discussed, what issues were shared, and to what specific improvements or considerations the dialogue has led.